A Sailor’s Life: Crew Lists from the Records of the U.S. Customs Service
Today’s post was written by Rita Williams, intern at the National Archives in Philadelphia.
The records of the U.S. Customs Service (RG 36) held by the National Archives at Philadelphia are a rich source of information on the seafaring life of the United States. One subset of these records, Seamen’s Protection Certificates, have figured in articles in the National Archives and Record Administration’s magazine Prologue and in an episode of PBS’s television program History Detectives because the type of information they provide—names, places of birth, ships, ports, and personal distinguishing features—are of great interest to both historians and genealogists. However, another subset of the records, crew lists, carry equally compelling information.
Crew lists were required by an 1803 Act of Congress for the protection of American seamen. The Act required masters of U.S. vessels engaged in foreign trade to file a list upon the commencement of the voyage. The 1811 crew list of the schooner Dart, for example shows the master, David Manlove, swearing “that the above list contains the names of all persons composing the crew of the said Schooner together with the places of their birth and residence, as far as I can ascertain the same.” (Crew lists also contain the ages and physical characteristics as well, as the lists here show.) Crew lists also had to be filed at voyage’s end, and the names reconciled with the initial list. Essentially, they were part of the documentation that tracked each sailor’s whereabouts as long as they were in a crew. Additionally, these crew lists were checked at each port and a record made of changes to the crew. In 1809, for example, the master of the ship Good Friends attests that several seamen have left ship voluntarily and several others come on board. These papers were certified and held by U.S. Customs offices.
A perusal of the lists illustrates how mobile—and how dangerous—life on the high seas could be. For every voluntary change at port, there were a number that were involuntary. As historian Simon P. Newman notes, seafaring was one of the most dangerous professions in the early republic (105). Richard Baker of the Missouri, for example, has died as a result of “accidentally breaking his leg.” James Beaty of the Magnet was “left at this port sick and unable to proceed to sea.” In addition, desertion from ships was not uncommon. Certifications of the crew list of the Mechanic states that three seamen have deserted the ship.
Crew lists can provide additional information to historians as well. They illustrate how multinational and multicultural crews were. The Magnet’s crew list contains sailors from Russia and Hamburgh (then an independent state) as well as the U.S. The Mechanic has a crew member who hails from Prussia. Both these crew lists describe some crew members as “free black”; in the Mechanic, George Taylor, and, in the Magnet, Francis Waters. Freeman Lattemore is described as a “free mulatto.” Men like these constituted nearly a quarter of the seagoing crews sailing from early Philadelphia (Newman 109). The record of their freedom would have provided protection against being captured and re-enslaved when their ships docked in the ports of slave-holding territory. Lists also show the wide variety in ages, from the Mechanic’s John Peters, 16 and just 3’10” tall, to Ralph Robson, 25 and a more average 5’9 ½”in height.
Interested in maritime records and the U.S. Customs Service? Check out our online catalogue and make an appointment view our holdings at the National Archives at Philadelphia.
References
Dixon, Ruth Priest. “Genealogical Fallout from the War of 1812.” Prologue 24(1), Spring 1992. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1992/spring/seamans-protection.html
Newman, Simon P. Embodied History: The Lives of the Poor in Early Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.
Public Broadcasting Service. History Detectives, Episode 10, 2006. http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/philadelphia-freedom-paper/. Accessed May 15, 2015.
Citations:
Crew List and Accompanying Forms of the Ship Mechanic, Bound for Liverpool. Crew Lists, 1803-1899. Box 22, January to June 1811. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36, National Archives at Philadelphia (Record Entry PH-2512) (NAID 573978)
Crew List and Accompanying Forms of the Schooner Dart, bound for Porto Rico. Crew Lists, 1803-1899. Box 22, January to June 1811. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36, National Archives at Philadelphia (Record Entry PH-2512) (NAID 573978)
Crew List and Accompanying Forms of the Ship Magnet, bound for Liverpool. Crew Lists, 1803-1899. Box 22, January to June 1811. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36, National Archives at Philadelphia (Record Entry PH-2512) (NAID 573978)
Crew List and Accompanying Forms of the Ship Good Friends. Crew Lists, 1803-1899. Box 22, January to June 1811. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36, National Archives at Philadelphia (Record Entry PH-2512) (NAID 573978)
Crew List and Accompanying Forms of the Ship Missouri, Bound for Cadiz. Crew Lists, 1803-1899. Box 22, January to June 1811. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36, National Archives at Philadelphia (Record Entry PH-2512) (NAID 573978)
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The Life of a Privateer with Thomas Boyle and the Comet
Today’s post was written by Desiree Wallen, Student Trainee at the National Archives in Philadelphia.
During the War of 1812, the government would grant permission to ship owners crazy enough to ask for the chance to use their privately-owned ships (better and not-so-cleverly known as privateers) to capture enemy ships and receive a share of the value from the prizes of war. Experienced seaman and Baltimore resident Thomas Boyle was called upon by the many owners of the Schooner Comet to captain their ship on such expeditions. The Comet was built in Baltimore in 1810 and was commissioned as a wartime privateer by the United States Congress in June of 1812. As protocol, a copy of “An Act Concerning the Letters of Marque, Prizes, and Prize Goods” was issued to Boyle and signed by then-Secretary of State James Monroe (as shown), and instructed for Boyle to keep that copy on hand during expeditions and largely to respect all neutral nations.
The first cruise, from July 25th, 1812 to October 7th, saw a lot of success, with the capturing of four enemy vessels in the West Indies. These were valued at $400,000; a lucrative reason to continue such expeditions. For the second cruise, the Collector of Customs stationed in Baltimore, James H. McColloch, received the official letter of marque (or, request for permission) dated November 6th, 1812 from the owners of the Comet, asking to be compensated with a cut of the value of the prizes of the expedition, which was due to last only 120 days. The second trip did not relinquish as much for the captain, as all five ships that were captured were recaptured by the British. With dwindling time in their expedition, Boyle made the call to return to port before they lost any more money on the trip.
It was on March 17th, 1813 when Thomas Boyle and his crew returned to Baltimore to find out the Chesapeake Bay was blockaded by the British Navy, as were most ports along the east coast at that time. Miraculously, Boyle guided the ship past the blockade without any issues. With nowhere to sail for many ships, there was nothing to do but protect American goods in Baltimore from potential British raids, which is what the U.S. Navy permitted Boyle to do during the summer of 1813. Feeling lucky, and presumably bored, Boyle ended his service to the Navy in September of 1813 and plotted to leave Chesapeake Bay with the Comet for another round of privateering, blockade or not. October 29th seemed a good a day as any, with the British ships being distracted by what was described as “heavy weather”. This stroke of luck would continue, as this third round brought in twenty captures for the United States. With an established career for the Comet, Boyle was called to captain a ship he co-owned, which was stationed in New York. He returned and docked the Comet in Beaufort, North Carolina, on March 19th, 1814.
Boyle continued his privateering career with the Chasseur, which yielded even more riches for him, and even led to his declaring a blockade on the United Kingdom itself (which, in turn, led to a critical diversion of ships by the British Royal Navy). While the Comet was not the ship deemed “The Pride of Baltimore” as the Chasseur was, the records still give a glimpse into the service of the government in wartime by a man with the bravado of Thomas Boyle, as well as shows the strategies employed by the United States to maintain a more mature war for the evolving nation during the War of 1812.
Citation: Lists of Prisoners of War, 1810-1816; Box 1; Record Group 36 -- Records of the United States Customs Service; National Archives at Philadelphia.
